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Gore Announces $1 Million in Federal Grants For Hawaii

4 September 1998

Vice President Gore Announces $1 Million in Federal Grants For Hawaii to Deter Drunk Driving

    WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 -- Vice President Gore today announced
incentive grants totaling nearly $1 million to help Hawaii implement tough
programs to combat drunk driving.
    The Hawaii grants will be awarded under provisions of the Transportation
Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), which President Clinton signed into
law June 9 and which authorize more than $700 million in federal grants to
states over the next six years to combat drunk driving.
    "Safety is President Clinton's highest transportation priority, and these
grants are an important step toward preventing alcohol-related traffic crashes
in Hawaii," Vice President Gore said.  "The people of Hawaii already have
taken a tough stance against drinking and driving, and we could save even more
lives by passing a tough national standard of impaired driving at .08 blood
alcohol concentration -- and I continue to challenge the Congress to enact
this life saving measure."
    Hawaii will receive $775,000 under the new Section 163 program.  The
section authorizes $500 million in federal grants to states over six years as
incentives to enact and enforce laws that make it a drunk driving offense per
se to operate a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08
or greater.  To qualify for Section 163 grant funds in fiscal 1998, states
must have enacted and be enforcing a ".08 BAC per se law" by Sept. 30, 1998.
Hawaii enacted such a law which was effective in June 1995.
    The remaining $163,000 the state will receive is under the Section 410
incentive grant program to help Hawaii deter drunk driving.  The program,
which encourages states to enact and enforce other programs that deter
drinking and driving, was extended and expanded by   TEA-21.  TEA-21
authorizes a total of $219.5 million, $34.5 million of it this year, in
Section 410 grants to states over six years, the highest level that the
Section 410 program has ever received.  Before the TEA-21 reauthorization of
the Section 410 program, states had been provided $150 million under the
program from fiscal 1992 to 1997.
    "A strong message and tough state laws are bringing about an important
change in society's attitude toward drunk driving, but we must continue our
efforts to reduce the numbers of these crashes and the tragedies associated
with them," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater.
    In 1997, there were 131 people killed in traffic crashes on Hawaii streets
and highways of which 44.7 percent were alcohol-related. Fifty-nine people
died in those alcohol-related crashes.  The annual percentage of alcohol-
related traffic fatalities in the United States dropped to an historic low in
1997.  It was the first time since record-keeping began in 1975 that alcohol-
related traffic deaths dropped below 40 percent of the total.
    The grants will be awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation's
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Federal Highway
Administration.
    The U.S. Department of Transportation's Web site is
http://www.dot.gov/briefing.htm.